coming up next. ♪ gerri: tonight, no clarity from congress from the fiscal cliff. will the american people end up being the big loser? and with the lame-duck congress ba in session, new warning about rules and regulations that it your way. welcome to "the willis report." hello, everybody. the white house trying to save face by saying it is wrong to think about talks to avrt the

thistle class have broken down, but the evidence is mounting. the president pushing tax checks on those making over 50,000. all that promise, the second meeting between president and congressional leaders is an even scheduled yet. senate majority leader harry reid refusing to put cuts on the table and saying it is republicans who are holding up negotiations should we expect to go right over the ciff? let's start by taling about whether it is impoible to get some kind of thoroughgoing resolution of this issue. >> at think it is, but we have to be working on a full-time. the president needs to be here talking to members of congress and working out a big deal, meaning tax reform, and panama reform, and other spending control. is is what the american people

want. gerri: let's talk about what the president is doing. meetg with sma bsiness owners, tomorrow middle-class families. friday leaving tanning going to nnsylvania to visit a small company. what do you think about that? saying he should be focused full-time. this kind of schedule would seem to indicate his schedule is elsewhere. >> meeting with members of congress, of the house, senate. we have a lot of ideas on how to do this. let's get together, get consensus, it is going to make it a big deal now. he should be here talking to congress, getting it down. gerri: what are your areas of agreement? >> look. we feel their needs to be pro-growth tax reform. we have to get it entitlement reform to solve the problem, but a spending control and put revenue on the tab. close the loopholes. we can get revenue even though the real revenue comes from economic growth.

that's why it's so important we get pro-growth tax reform as well as better spending control and intense amongg reform. gerri: well, what would you be willing to compromise on? to you, what are the issues where you have some kind of flexibility? >> when we say that we will put revenue on the table starting out closing loopholes, that is a huge step right there. the president needs to tell us what he is willing to do in terms of internal reform because you cannot solve the problem without the spending control, finding savings command real entitlement reform as well as the tax reform. we are reaching out when we say close the loopholes, put revenue on the table. now he needs to come back and tell us what he's willing to do. gerri: at think he was the income tax rate to change. less concerned abut the deductions and loopholes. is tre any way you can come to agreement on that? >> think about that. we have said by closi loopholes, limiting deductions

we will provide more revenue, and the real revenue will come from economic growth. we have to be pro-growth tax reform. we stimulate investment, business investment and getting peoole back to work. the real revenue growth comes from a growing economy. you don't want to kill economic growth and end up with less revenue. we are reaching out, providing the revenue, but doing it in a way that gets people back to work and generates revenue from growth. gerri: i have to tell you, what i hear are people who are continuing to pitch their own position and not move into the center and the thing that amazes me, and ensure it amzes the american people, there is not even another meeting scheduled yet. how is that possible? days from the deadline. gerri: we should be meeting every day, and we are putting revenue on the table. that is a big step. the administration has to engage with us. gerri: thank you for coming on. we appreciate. ho you will come bck as these negotiations continue.

hopefully you can find some kind of resolution. >> thank you. gerri: meanwhe, the house is back in session after the thanksgiving break. the speaker was met with an unusual demonstration. naked protesters, no kidding, outside his office. by the time we get our camera crew their capital police said godunov. comments on the fiscal cliff talk rich edson has th latest. did you see the snake protesters? >> reporter: not in person. they were all over twitter. look. another day on capitol hill. the election -- go ahead. i'm sorry. gerri: i was thinking, so much equanimity. >> reporter: well, the election is over. the campaign continues in washington. congressional leads admit talks over how to get the federal budget in order have slowed. congressional aides say they haveve received no and buy from the white house for another

deficit meeting. instead, the president is hosting small business leaders, ceos, and heading to philadelphia to sell his position on taxes. a spokesman for the house speaker says the president should be focusing on congressional democrats who republicans they refuse to offer necessary spending cuts. other republicans id democrats are simply continuing election season. >> this seems like our fend on the other side are having difficulty turning off the campaign. we need to sit down and work this matter out. >> we are all here, this administration and those who have been elected to congress, to erve the iraqi people. to suggest that we should, now that the election is over, stop talking to them about these vital issues i think is bad advice. >> republicans also planted a little campaigning themselves. house republicans we will visit local small-business is to

emphasize that threat to jobs posed by congressional democrats small business tax hike. gerri: thank you for that. we will watch out for those naked people on the hill. >> reporte that's right. be careful. gerri: thank you. with the fiscal cliff limning, the spotlight is not on the 90 percent of americans facing attacks it or the recession it might trigger but grover norquist, a frequent guest year. the nti-tax pledge many republicans signed. with more on this republican senator mike lee of uth. always good to see you. thank you for coming on. a growing number of republican senators who are dissing themselves from grover. take aook at this. the list goes on and on. will you back away from grov and his pledge? >> the plege i made regarding taxes to that have to do with any one individual.

what i'd made for my constituents, the voters of utah who elected me in part because i was willing to acknowledge of washington has a spending problem, far more than a revenue problem. voters in utah recognize the fact that when you raise taxes which economic growth. that is what we need t least right now. we need new growth, new jobs, and that is why i'm shying away from a tax increase. gerri: it's interesting because democrats keep pushing grover into the spotlight making him a bogyman. >> an obstacle standing beyond, plan -- congress and compromise. for years norquist has believe lawmakers willing to put their oath of officeor the promise to serve constituents ahead of their pledge in this antitax selig. is brand of ideological extremism has been better for congress and even worse for the country. gerri: saudi respond?

>> that is nonsense. a $16 trillion debt. we have now about three and a half years with that in the budget and all. to suggest it is extreme to be against tax increases is itself an example of extremism. if we raise taxes, even only on the top two brackets as our president wantsto do we will lose 700,000 jobs. those are not ceo jobs, not top 1 percent jobs. those are people who are working hard and living paycheck to paycheck. that is what we're worried about gerri: the average cost, some $36,000. the stakes are huge. as we we just saying moments ago, it is shocking at this point that there is not even a meeting scheduled to have more conversations. you say, though, and i find this really interesting. you wrote an op-ed recently stating thathe fisl cliff is

an issue may pale in comparison to what happens if we go over the fiscal cliff and the resulting incrse in interest rates that might happen. define the problem for us. >> as i've explained in my op-ed in the washington times yesterday, we are facing not just a fiscal cliff, which we can see, which we can attach a firm date to, but we're also facing thereafter and some unknown point that will occur when people stop lending is money. borrowing money right now at a rate of a trillion dollars per year. and at some point our creditors are going to start to demand a higher yield great commander straight. once that happens our abilities to borrow and in these large sums will be severely impaired which will turn our ability to3 fund every government program imaginable, everything from defense to entitlement and everything in between which will be a difficult day. that is the avalanche i am concerned about the. gerri: all kinds of things being talked abut now to solve this disco cliff issue. other areas to generate some

kind of revenue. for example, one of these ideas is raising the medicare eligibility age to 67 from 55. would sething like that work for you? would you be willing to sign onto an idea like that? >> i am interested in the entitlement rform. in order to make these programs available for those who have come to rely on them, for those who have come to expect that they will be there for them. in order to make sure it can survive we have to make adjustments like that. i have already introduced and co-sponsor of legislation that would do some of those things. absolutely i would be interested in discussions along those lines gerri: thank you for coming on. great to see you, and we hope to see you again oon. >> thank you, gerry. gerri: a lot more to ome, including with a potential tax increase living for capital gains. compies trying to get a jump on the fiscal cliff. details and the oracle of all my speaking out on tax policy. next, i'll break down why warren buffett is just plain wrong.

♪ gerri: warren buffett is getting a lot of attention this week for his comments on the fiscal cliff . basically, the investing mobil says it rich people, that is people like him, should pay more in taxes. it sounds magnanimous. i believe the case he builds for higher taxes, well, the reasoning as a big hole in it. here is why. the contention that rich people willtop hiring is nonsense. we already know that more than a million americans to employ people and paying there taxes through ere individual income-tax. according to the heritage foundation, the amount their taxes would rise would be equivalent to one employee salary. one person there would not hire. we will what is more, rinsed and

young says these tax hikes would kill 710,000 jobs. buffett also says that rich people will stop investing. again, nonsense. when you tax something usually get less of it, like cigarette taxes to curb smoking or carbon tax to curb carbon emissions. financial advisers say individual investors are considering doing their investing elsewhere. other countries because of the higher taxes. now, the investing mobile bullies that wealthy folks should have to pay a minimum tax. look. there is alrady an alternative minimum tax set up with just that idea, to catch of the scofflaws who don't pay their fair share. unfortunately the brain surgeons on capitol hill have never in next the tax for inflation. knight captures 4 million americans, many of which it would be a strain to consider wealthy. even if you had of -- led all the bush tax cut expired the renue would only fund the government for eight half day aid now have days. we nd a better solution than

that. the comments are based on the idea that there are no unintended consequences of government policy. people embrace changes, and the world keeps on spending. i believe that results would be catastrophic. capital flight to my jobs left unfilled, weaken the economy, probably recession. the top 10 percent of ours, people at the -- that the president urges to pay their fair share already paid ten per cent or 70%, 70 percent of the income taxes in this country. how are they not doing what they should? if warren buffett wants to pay more taxes, warren buffett can do that. in the meantime, we needto get this country back on a growth track in which a vibrant economy creates tax revenues, jobs, and a better future for everybody. coming up, more and mo compies are rushing to get out their dividends before we fall of the fiscal cliff. advice for you and your money coming up next. ♪

♪ gerri:ome companies offering special dividends to shareholders to avoid being hit by

♪ rri: it is being called a dividend rush. lots of companies offering special dividends to shareholders who are moving up their dividend pay off date to avoid next year's tax ncrease. for moren what it means for investors, i'm joined by managing director of black rock. great to have you here. we were just talking about the fiscal cliff and how it miht be resolved. you have an interesting point of view. >> i largely think that this is the part of that the leveraging

process, moving to a point where the u.s. government is, to get more fiscally sound. and so obviously last year was a much more heated argument with our cogress around the debt ceiling debate. obviously the tea party. they put in the sequester cuts, and now is the fiscal cliff. now, i think globally it i largely viewed as something that would be pretty to crony in. the comments, the monetary policy is not something that can offset it. it will probably put this into a recession. i don't think you're going to see a grand bargain, but i think you will see steps to start the have a down payment of working our way into facing. gerri: a short-term resolution, maybe. let's at least get past the deline. maybe then we move into abigger discussion of real tax reform and intel now reform. is tat something that somebody in your position with favre? >> i think tt stcturally we need to see reforms on the

spending as well as the tax side i don't think you will see that of the the next four weeks, but you will start to see that and you willtart to seekavors of that. it will be a decent shot. that is the cliff. so i think you will start to see that face them, and you will start to see both sides. already you're starting to see the republican side of the house except more of a willingness to see more tax increases. you need to see structul reform. gerri: a high-yield bond fund. what do you hear from investors? how worried are they about this? we have been told, if ou don't get it together we will downgrade you again. that will make it difficult for us to finance this $16 trillion debt. gerri: obviously a lot of uncertainty. a lot of uncertainty, and the fiscal cliff is what the markets are focused on right now. you sa the reaction around the cliff in the repricing. i think investors in the united

states as well as companies globally are nervous about it. you start to see spending cut back. the uncertainty. gerri: we have en companies moving ahead of this fiscal cliff to pay their dividends out faster so people don't have to pay so much tax. let's face it. people on their boards don't haveo pay some much in taxes. that is what we have seen in many cases. does that go far enough? or will people be unloading dividend paying stocks, selling parts of their portfolio in advance of the day? >> every year uc capital gains seing and that type of activity in the markets. this special dividends that you talk about, part of that is getting ahead of the potential tax increases. anothepart of that isthe uncertaiy in the market. when the company is starting to give dividends back is because they're not applying hitting growth. at think that is a larger story asays that because there is all of this uncertainty you talk to a management team, ceo, cfo

of a company in the are not sure about the longevity of their demand or are they going to apply money into new projects? cc them all back on projects spending or employment. nce they don't have the certainty, they're handing cash back to their shareholders. gerri: high-yield bonds. how does the fiscal cliff treat high-yield bonds? will you take a big hit? are you concerned about how investors we will regard your reading? >> i yield is largely, we lead to more leveraged companies, but we are senior the equity. more stability in the high-yield market trade. about half of the volatility of the equity market because of the seniority. if you the cattle market, it is still tied to the health of corporate. if we go into a fiscal cliff, that since this into a recession and it will increase the probabily of defaults and then you would see risk premiums increase. we don't think that is the case because we still think the base case is that you will start to see a move.

it probably won't be tomorrow, but as you start to get into the end of the year, starting to see an agreement of how we move forward, avoiding the fiscal cliff but really starting to take steps. a case for optimism. thank you for coming on. appreciate your time. if you are fired up about this or any issue on the program, write me in e-mail. ♪ >> coming up on "the willis report," is the gop in more trouble as we move closer to the fiscal cliff? have they kept their dues for good? or political heavyweights to get that next. and for many families bargain shopping during the holidays has become a tradition as rich as eating turkey on thanksgiving day. why do we go matt for these deals? expert's visit to britain and the psychology of it all. a tnami of the regulations are on the way. hawe get all this out of the way? we are othe case next on "the

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♪ >> from the fox business studios in new york city, it's "the willis report" with gerri willis gerri: well, it was not too long ago our top leaders had a come by a moment at the white house. remember this? the president predicting april process during the fiscal cliff talks and even wishing the house speaker a happy birthday. still nowhere near a solution to the democrats balanced approach. >> we remain hopeful and optimistic that we can achieve a deal. he will not sign an extension of bush-era tax cuts for the top 2 percent. >> we have already done more than a billion dollars worth of cuts. the richest of the rich will have to pay a little bit more. gerri: the voicef compromise. it will lead gop be forced to surrender their platform?

let's ask our all-star political panel. former advisers to president george w. bush and daily beast columnist. to you first. the other republicans going to have to walk away from what they have long clung to which is the idea that we're not going to raise taxes, no way, no how. >> well, i think that president obama definitely has the upper hand in the situation. you have people coming out and saying we don't have on a this anti-tax pledge with grover norquist, a senior republicans, people like bill kristol you have 12 new house members coming in who refused to sign the pledge. so you start seeing that and it gives the president much stronger leverage to get what he wants. and i think that if the republicans don't come around on and we end up going off the cliff there will get blamed for it. gerri: what do you say? >> i say let's take a look and what happened in november.

our government gave the people of america gave the government to the status quo. we are back to where we started in septmber. the president has a huge do over, and it is his obligation to leave history this. republicans have said we are willing to talk about revenue, but democrats have to be serious on spending. so this idea that anne has the upper hand is exactly why a deal is not been done. the deal as on the teeseven deal is only as good a it is for both parties. the agreement is honored in the breach. the fact of the matter is the president wants to jump off the cliff. he is not taking republicans with him because the republican party is going to stay true to their principles, but we are able to compromise if there is good faith on the other side. gerri: well, an interesting comment today from the spokesman saying obama should target congressional democrats whwant to raise taxes on small business. here's what he had to ay. democrats control -- continue to rule out spending cuts.

the target of the president's rally should be the congressional democrats who want to raise taxes on small business rather than cut spending. what to use it is common? >> there is a very small percentage of small businesses that surround 2% to would be affected by the bush tax cuts expiring. i think that it would be reasonable for the democrats to up to some sort of carve out for that 2 percent if you want to protect small businesses, certainly the republicans could propose that if they want to if that was their real concern. i don't think it is. i think they use small businesses around this issue even though it is such a minority of the people who would be affected. and, you know, i feel like that is something that could be worked out that both sides really want it to. gerri: we mentioned earlier that it is oer a million small business operators who would be affected, not a small group. brad, to you. is this a fake out by republans in the house. a big issue for small business or are they really trying to

protect just rich people? what is your view? >> we are trying to protect those people who create jobs. small-business owners. we know that the majority of jobs created in america are through small businesses. why not seek to protect those people, especially in a rough economy. theequestion is, what is the definition of rich. democrats happen to believe it is $250,000 or more, and we disagree with that. so what we need to do on the revenue side is come up with an agreement on revenue that the democrats to my have not heard one peep out of the democrats seriously on spending reductions or until now reform. entitlements are the root cause of our problem, but in or short-term budget and our long-term debt. gerri: what about that point that there is no discussion of entitlement spending here and at the end of the day we all know that is pretty much most of the budget. it is a baker who in the budget, entitlement spending. why are we talking about that? >> we should be. we should also be talking abou

that defense spending. we should have tax reform. i a not here to defend washington. none of this is being handled -- gerri: that would be to baggage up for all three of us put together. let me tell you. >> all of these things have to be dealt with. i can't disagree with that. think that there is this piecemeal approach to our problems that will solve anything. gerri: well, how likely given the fact that there is not even another meeting scheduled for everybody to get together and talk about this issue, how likely is it that we will get any kind of resolution before the end of t year? >> i think it's more likely each and every day that the democrats are willing to jump off the cliff. and i happen to believe that they are believing their own polling which they believe that the american people blame the republicans for going off the clif but the bottom line is we don't have a national election for two years. the public is a very short

memory. the bottom line is either you deal with it this year, next year. it has to be dealt with because you know what's happening? what happens, the debt has to be increased again. so we have one crisis after another. the american people voted in the status "in governing, but they don't expect it in governance. gerri: okay. thank you for coming out tonight. great job, both of you. thank you so much. now we want to know what you think. should the gop surrender or stick to its principles? log on to gerriwillis.com. vote on e right inside of the screen, and a share the results. superstar sandy left much of the garden state devastated, but it is really boosting the popularity of new jersey governor, chris christie. even democrats seem to love this guy. just the last month to liberal voters slowing in his favor by 50 points. and even 69 percent of republicans approve ofis

praise the president obama following the storm. courtesy rank among most popular governors in the country? that list based of the most recent polls. number five, delaware's jack marco, the rising democratic star, also the national governors' association chairman. more than two-thirds of the state seemed to like him. jerry herbert despite the republicans' acceptance of obamacare. he still enjoys a 71 percent approval rating. the most popular democratic governor, new york andrew cuomo. hot scoring high marks amongg voters for his handling of superstore sandy. set to ask the federal government for $42 million to help this state which will no doubt make his poll numbers tired. wyoming man need. not only does he have a high approval rating. a third of the voters said they approve of his job performance over the last year. in the most popular governor, chris christie. that is popular among

conservative circles, huge in new jersey and looks like a lock for reelection. but 2016. coming in, like how businesses will be strangled by a flood of red tape. and the holiday shopping season that has already broken tons of records. people really getting good deals? the psychology behind the rush to save a buck next.

♪ gerri: i know you have seen it, maybe been a part of it. holiday shoppers beating down the doors and their competition, all in the quest for a quick deal. in the kickoff to the shopping season is no exception. online retailers posting their biggest day ever on cyber monday with shoppers driving sales up 30% from last year. the number of folks buying on their smart phones went through the roof, up more than 96%. what exactly is going on in the minds of these shoppers, and our

business is playing off their psyche to post huge profits? we invited in a psychologist. here to help. all right. what is going on in the mind of these shoppers? we see these pictures of people jamming into the stores at 2:00.m. from 3:00 a.m. but it thinking? >> well, a couple things. first of all, feelings. you have people who have had disappointments or disagreements over the year and think one way to fix this is to buy something. i think also tradition. it has become a tradition. we all go out to the mall after dinner and go shopping. i think that is becoming more of a tradition. i think finally it's also the retailers have bogged down to the notion of let's get something we might not otherwise get. gerri: they are, and i guess we are to. what is the psychological games that the retailers are planning?

now you told us what's in the minds of shoppers, but our retailers may have this? >> well, i think this year especially. you saw things in marketing. if you don't get this now you will miss out and never get it. i think their is a lot of psychology behind that. we saw that a lot. also the gadget hight, the idea that you don't need just the tablet. you need these five things to go with it, and if you don't have that you are somehow not as good i also think i saw a lot of 50% today. you know what, i went to the mall yesterday, the day after. i saw it in the store. actually a greater percentage off. you can't really do a lot of comparon shopping, and that think the plan and a little bit. gerri: what about the people shopping by phone, smart phone? how does that change had a shop and how much they spend? >> the impulse buying. this one click notion that you can hit one or two buttons, you

n't have to think about it. so a lot more impulse purchasing goes on, and a lot more, i want to look at that becomes an going to buy that because it has become so easy. gerri: you don't have to think about it twice. returning it is all that much harder. it back. if it is a retailer in your neighborhood, yojust walk it back over. >> at thing that's right. think about all the things that you probably have not returned in may beaches given away. retailers soared a bank on that. gerri: how the people know? and people in your life, they do crazy things. have you know that somebody has gone over the edge? >> well, when people come and talk to me i look for a couple of things. is this really affecting your relationship? number one cannot one of the number oneeasons people get divorced is about budgets. if you are consistently exceeding a budget and you don't have money for necessities or

everyday things, that's a problem. if you're buying a lot of clothes are buying things and putting them in your closet and never using them, that's problem. if you're starting to feel guilty about it or if you're starting to try to hide it from other people, then you really know that it is a problem and you need to get some of. gerri: a couple of interesting things. if you are buying a lot and you want to rein it in, wait 24 hours. all of. >> it is important. it is important to do that. i encourage people to do that. you see something you love. it's highly likely it will be there in 24 hours, and my hunch is the price will come back around maybe before christmas or after christmas. if you just wait a litle bit i think you can let some of the height go down. you an sy, do i really need this into a reallwant this? gerri: by after the rush, pay cash, and eae credit cards. the key for coming on. appreciate yr time.

>> thank you. gerri: my "2 cents more." not just the fiscal clef. a huge tsunami of red tape on the way w that the obama administration will be back for round two. details after the break. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it! now we need a little bit more... [ male announcer ] at huma, we understand the value of quality time and personal attention. which is why we are proud to partner with health care professionals who understand the difference that quality time with our members can make... that's a very nice cake! ohh! [ giggles ] [ male announcer ] humana thanks the physicians, nurses, hospitals, pharmacists and other health professionals

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♪

gerri: brace yourselves for a tsunami of new regulations on the way. a new study finds major regulations still under review by the obama administration could cost as much as $106 billion before the end of the year. the biggest culprit, the epa and the energy department. your taste plain, director of regulation policy for the american action form. welcome. i want to start with this $106 billion number that we were talking about in a break. this is a lot o money. $106 billion. these are rules that are still being written that were supposed to go into place sometime this ar. the laws already on the books. tell us about that. >> correct. for example, already 25 economically significant regulations at the white house now. regulations with an economic impact of $100million or more. some of those are rules under the affordable care act, the menu labeling rules, rules for vending machines, labor requirements.

a lot at the white house now. a lot of rules that are past their statutory deadline, past the deadline that the administration set for themhat have been waiting around for several months. we don't know why. even as some it might be because of the election because the pace the rerun right now is significantly lower than other reelection years. gerr more than 80 percent of the rules have been under review for 90-plus days. what is it takes a long? i don't even want to see these rules come into place, but at the end of the day they should have some efficiency about enacting them. gerri: the biggest issue is transparency, and you mentioned the 90 day threshold. under the executive order 90 days is supposed to be the maximum. you have roughly 80 percent of the rules that have been there longer. this is really unprecedented, and part of the issue is transparency. the white house is under law supposed to release to unified agendas of regulations each year the last time they issued, last

fall, and even that was late. we don't have one for 2012 that all. we have no clue beyond what is at the white house what is scheduled for 2013 and 14. members of the house oversight committee. gerri: talk about your transparency problem. that is a big transparency problem. we were just showing our viewers a lis of the rates that are coming. some of them include this epa boiler rule which will put a significant burden on people who own factories in buildings everywhere. this is something that people have been more about. what is the potential cost of something like that? >> several billion. that rule has been in and out of the regulatory process. they try to finalize it last year. it has been kicking around. surprisingly enough it received a lot of blow back from eve morate senators. for example, the tomb from maine are very worried about the boiler neck regulation. it has been at the white house for a while as well. and it is just a matter of time.

they will hold on to these rules forever. likely they will be released this winter or sometime in the spring. gerri: final rules for labeling requirements under obamacare. we have what i think is the farm dust rule, particulate mater. is that farm dust? >> epa is stressing that farmers don't have to worry about the rule. if you look compared to the other rules is sort of seems like a drop in the bucket, $69 million. according to the projections, there are only a few counties that would u the complaint, but there are other rules. cooling water standards rule that would regulate a lot of power plants and how they use cooling water during the electric generation process. department of energy and epa are really busy and have a lot of rules that have been at he white house for longer than 90 days. gerri: you also have some other interesting numbers. 19,000 employees are devoted to red tape. >> if you looked at the aggregate paperwork compliance

burden of all of these, roughly 37 million hours. that 37 million, take a productive work year of roughly 2,000 hours, / 37 million get roughly 19,000 full-time equivalent employees. in theory, those are employees that will be dedicated solely to red to compliance. gerri: quickly, what type of grade would you give the obama administration for transparency? >> well, the regulatory flexibility, he is supposed to publish to unify its in this. the white house had opposed any and have given no reason why. we are still clueless as to why their none of bang the regulatory flexibility act. gerri: no accounting for what they're doing, but i guess, you know, transparency is in the eyes of the beholder. thanks for coming on. restuffed. appreciate your time. appreciate your time. [ male announcer ] how do you trade? with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process --

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gerri: despite the calls from across the country, a fiscal

cliff deal seems far away. should the g.o.p. surrender or stick to the principles? this is what some are posting. jake says the g.o.p. needs back to the core principles like making government work, balance the budgets with cuts and revenue increases. do not surrender, ever, stick to the core of smaller government, lower taxes. amen, lee. we asked and 5% said surrender, and 95% said stick to the principles. no surprise there. here's the e-mails. mike writes this, don't folks get it that government is not a producer, but a consumer? liberals view the government as an endless source of money which is why they riot in greece and spain because they bought into the notion that government is responsible for making their lilives comfortable. i'm a fan of cuts in everything other than defense. don from north carolina says democrats talk about raising the

debt ceiling to $19 trillion. i doubt that rubber band can be stretched further before it snaps. i trust wal-mart bonds more than treasuries. ted says how right you are, gei. love when they say that. the votes left the country working less than before, and not long before it stobs ming at all. %-one of the many drains or california taxpayers, you know it, it's the rising cost of public universities across the state, but your money is well spent, that is, if you smoke marijuana. humboldt university created the institute for marijuana research. the institute plans to sponsor scholarly lectures and coordinate speeches across researchersing inning economics,